Improvement in projectiles for rifled ordnance



W. H. HAVENS.

Projcnile. y Patented Feb. 25,' 1862;

i UNITED` STATES PATENT OEEICE.,l

IVM. II. HAVENS, OF FATERSOX, NIZW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENi-,IN PROJECTILES FOR Rit-Leu'camarada-z.`

Specllication forming part of Letters Patent No. 341.493, datedFe'biuary 25, 1852.

.T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. HnvENs, of Paterson, in the county ofPassaic and .State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Irojectilcs for Bitled Grdnance; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot'. thesaine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis speciiication, in which- Figure lis a longitudinal outside View ofan elongated shot witlrniyimprovements. Fig. 2 is a centra-llongitudinal section of the Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the samein the line a: marked on Fig. l2; Fig. 4, a transverse sectionfin theline y y, and Fig. 5 a transverse section in the line z z.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A and B are the twopieces of cast-iron lcom-v posing the body of theshot, the front piece, A, being made with a pin, a., at its rear, toenter a cavity, b, in the rear piece, B. The frontportion of the rearportion, B, Vis made of conical form, as shown at c c, and with a rnumberot'equidistant dovetail grooves, d rl,

running lengthwise of it for the reception ot' dovetail tongues g,formed upon the expanding segments. In rear of the conical portion c cthere is a Shoulder formed on the piece B, and a groove, c, is providedin the face of the said shoulder, and asimilar groove, f, is provided-inthe face of the shoulder that is formed on the front piece, A, in frontof the pin a. 1

C Care the expanding segments,` of which there lmay be any desirednumber, made of .i

brass or other moderately-hard metal or alloy. These segments are ofsuch form that when arranged close together their exteriors combine toforni a cylinder of thesame circumference as the cylindrical portionofthe exterior of the body of the shot, and their interiors lit thefront portion of the conical portion c c of the body, and each isfurnished on its interior with a dovetail tongue, g, to t' one of thedovetail grooves d d, which correspond in number with the segments.Onthe front ends of the segments there are formed` tongues h 7L to enterVthe groove f, and on their rearA ends off. Y

| there are formed' tongues z' to enter a ring,

j, of lead or other soft metal or alloy, a portion of which is made to tthe groove e. The external portion of the ring j is of a ci'rcnm`ference equal to that of the cylindrical po'r-A tion of the body of theshot. Foraprojectile to be used in a gun having a small number of largeride-grooves, the segments may be made with projecting ribs or iins topartly enter.

the grooves when the projectile is first placed in the gun; but for aprojectile with a large number of fine grooves the exterior' surfacesofthe segments may be inade plain. "'When the projectile isinserted inthe gun, the portion A is drawn outfrom B some distance, as shown inFig. 2, and the segments are arranged 'on the forward and smallerportion of the cone c c, close to the shoulder of A, and so contractedor. drawn togetherto permit` them to pass easily through the bore ot'the gun. In rannning home the projectile the portion A is driven backinto B, and the segments are driven back along the cone c c, and.k soexpanded tillthey tit tightly to thc lands of the bore. Vhen the chargeis tired, the impact upon the rear portion of the projectile drives itforward before the front part, A, or the seg,- ments start, and the conepassin forward into the segments expands them and causes thenr to iillthegrooves, and the shoulder of B is driven forward against thesoft-metalring j, which is thus compressed between the said shoulder.and the rear ends of the segments, and so expands radially against thewalls of the gun and made to prevent windage. The tongues q r/ insurethe rotary motion of the segments derived from the lille-groovesv beingimparted to the projectile, and when the projectile has left the gun thesegments are locked to the body not only. by t-he dovetaii tongues g g,but by the tongues M and grooves f e, and so ei'fcctually prevented fromilying D isa soft-nietalband applied to the rear ot' a projectile, andll a cast-.iron follower, to bepdriven forwardagainst the said band l'orthe'purpose of expanding it. On the rear portion ot' the cast-iron bodyot the projectile there is 'formed a concentric annular projco tion, k'/b, having provided in it anumber o1' holes, ZZ.l The follower llisinadewithacnical head, and with a shank in front smaller `than theinside of the annular projection lf,

- and the band Dis cast on the `projectile by i y `-placing the h0dyofthe projectileand thffollowers iiii @suitable m01d,.., Themen-Li'Qfthis band covers the projection k both inside and l outside, and llsthe holes l'l, and so attachesv itself firmly to the projectile. y

These improvements areiapplicable to hol-v low as well as to solidpr'ojeetiles.t 1 The cav-- ity for the powder in a shell or hollow pro'-iectile will exten'd into both parts A and.' B of the`body,'ahd', linorder to prevent the powder from getting around the pin' a, I propose."to

form-.a coptinuation'betweeu the, SWODaIts of.

.the chamberinA and B 'by means of a-tbel made of tin-.plate or, otherlightv metal.

:into it;;"fb11t`.

What I claim as my invention secure by .Letters Patent, is

'JAMES LAIRD., lmHARDsoNjPAWLm'-,

I domi ciagmexpanding the pagkiiggf piti-f eetl-les n.bymnje'anspf-afconegrvefi forwzirdarid desire tov y The combinationwith Lthe'conical portieri i --ent sliding @flicking-segments c 6,1111 arranged

